Painting over the Past: Political Palimpsests in Northern Ireland and the Complexities of the 'Whitewash' Initiative - Brill
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c hapter 11
Painting over the Past: Political Palimpsests
in Northern Ireland and the Complexities
of the ‘Whitewash’ Initiative
Mark Callaghan
Abstract
Northern Irish murals function as internal dialogues within two disparate communi-
ties, whilst also operating as memorials to ‘volunteers’, celebrations of heritage and
affirmations of identity. They also serve as territorial markers, often aggressive in
their nature, depicting masked gunmen and paramilitary emblems. These political
murals are the subject of much debate. Authorities have been trying to replace un-
welcome reminders of violence for a number of years. Community groups, residents,
artists and local politicians have been involved in consultations and some of the more
bellicose images have been replaced with depictions of less contentious history. The
replacement of murals –carried out under the ‘Re-imaging Communities’ scheme –
has, though, caused a division within Loyalist and Republican communities, includ-
ing historians who consider the paintings part of their history, their identity, and the
collective and individual trauma of the past, whilst some residents, journalists and
politicians regard the old wall paintings as intimidating and therefore approve of the
new ones. This war over memory offers particularly rich scope for analysis. It raises
several questions, including the concern that the ‘Re-imaging Communities’ scheme
initiates a ‘whitewash’ with all political murals expunged, and that a process designed
to facilitate individual and societal healing has, in some cases, resulted in the opposite.
Paying attention to these issues, this chapter focuses on the central questions of what
it means to censor and sanitise the history of Northern Ireland’s trauma. Is there a
case for maintaining strident images of trauma? Do such changes reflect a transitional
society and a post-conflict culture, or do the new murals represent the social truth of
irreconcilable differences despite their apparent lack of belligerence? The chapter also
pays considerable attention to the history of the Northern Irish political mural and
its proneness to change and resistance in the urban landscape, including murals that
appear to reflect the political climate, specifically the cease-fire period of 1994 and The
Good Friday Agreement accord of 1998.
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Painting over the Past 209
Keywords
murals – political – trauma – paramilitary – censorship – terrorism – social memory –
consensus – post-conflict
1 Introduction
The Northern Irish mural has origins dating back to 1908, though its signifi-
cance increased during The Troubles, a thirty-year period of conflict that began
in 1969, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,700 people. During this time,
murals became more bellicose, more sectarian, and served increasingly as ter-
ritorial markers in divided Belfast and Derry.1 They still adorn the gable walls
of working class areas; nearly all political, most can be identified to one of two
sides –the Republican, Nationalist community, generally of Catholic heritage,
or the Loyalist, Unionist Community, generally of Protestant heritage. Broadly,
the Republican, Nationalist community have campaigned to be part of a unit-
ed Ireland, and therefore part of the Republic of Ireland,2 whereas, the Loyal-
ist, Unionist community believe Northern Ireland should remain part of The
United Kingdom.3 For this reason, it is common to see Irish tricolours in Re-
publican, Nationalist districts, and conversely, British Union symbols in streets
where Loyalist, Unionists live.
The Troubles officially came to an end in 1998, as a corollary of The Good
Friday Agreement –a bilateral treaty, signed by most of Northern Ireland’s po-
litical parties, that fixed the status of Northern Ireland, meaning it could only
1 After the British government banned the broadcasting of the actual voice of supporters
belonging to Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups, mural paintings increasingly be-
came an easy way to convey the invisible presence of the gunmen [Bill Rolston. Drawing
Support: Murals in the North of Ireland. Murals in the North of Ireland. (Dublin: Beyond the
Pale Publications, 1992), 16].
2 Northern Ireland was created in 1921 by an Act of the British Parliament, which subsequently
led to The Irish Free State and then The Republic of Ireland. Ireland was partitioned due to
the independence movement in Dublin and the south but the north remained British, as the
majority of its unionist population wanted to remain part of Britain [Paul Bew, The Politics of
Enmity (1798–2006) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 14].
3 The uda (Ulster Defence Association) is the largest Loyalist paramilitary group, with up to
40,000 members in the 1970s. However, the uvf (Ulster Volunteer Force), which has origins
dating to 1912, represents the origins of Loyalism. Many of its members fought for the British
in the First World War. Their commitments to Britain is often represented in their murals.
By 2007, both groups had officially disbanded [Peter Taylor, Loyalists (London: Bloomsbury,
2000), 29].
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210 Callaghan
become part of the Republic of Ireland if consensus is met in both Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.4 Due to this momentous change, I reflect
on the way that political murals transformed during the late twentieth century,
overlapping into the new century. I analyse differences in style, content, and
location, what observable alterations in strategy were underway during this
time, and ultimately, how the urban landscape of Belfast and Derry became a
canvas for expressing multiple voices that expanded into new locations. Essen-
tial to these discussions is the Re-Imaging Communities programme, which
began in 2006 with the aim of replacing aggressive sectarian murals with
paintings that celebrate respective heritages that are outside of politics.5
As the mural serves as social memory, helping us to stifle through the con-
fusion of the past for evidence that might serve to substantiate existing beliefs,
including changes in attitude leading up to and since The Good Friday Agree-
ment, I consider visual responses to political change that either reflect that
accord or contradict it. In doing so, this chapter also analyses the use of spe-
cific locations that enhance the meaning of the mural and the extent to which
this is a reciprocal relationship between place and the image being painted.
This chapter also examines the consequences of the Re-imaging Communities
scheme, asking whether the replacement of bellicose images with less con-
tentious ones is a true reflection of post-trauma Northern Ireland, and also
looking at how communities have re-imaged their streets and districts through
their own changes instigated outside of the scheme.
2 The Northern Irish Political Mural: an
Overview of Narrative in Space
As the death-toll rose during The Troubles, murals became memorials to par-
amilitary ‘volunteers’, and victims of terrorism.6 This includes what Anthony
4 Dermot Keogh, Northern Ireland and the Politics of Reconciliation (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994), 17.
5 The first Re-imaging communities programme ran from 2006–2008 with a budget of
£3.8 million. The Building Peace Through the Arts: Re-Imaging Communities Programme
ran from 2012 October 2015 with a budget of £1.5m which supported 32 projects, and is due to
evaluate this phase during 2016. The programme is currently closed; the Arts Council with its
key partners will be exploring alternative funding schemes, partnerships and opportunities
to continue the programme. Information provided by Noirin McKinney, Director of Arts De-
velopment on 16 February 2016.
6 Not until the early 1980s did murals become a prominent form of street display in Repub-
lican, Nationalist areas and the brush joined the Armalite and the ballot box as a facet of
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Painting over the Past 211
f igure 11.1
A ‘terrorist’ mural. East Belfast. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
Buckley defines as the ‘soldier hero’ and ‘the terrorist’, representations of com-
batants that came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, and remain common
today –the ‘soldier hero’ being the proud, sometimes smiling freedom fighter,
now more familiar to Republican, Nationalist areas, and the ‘terrorist’, being
the hyper-masculinised balaclava-wearing figure, that one can still see in Loy-
alist, Unionist parts of Belfast (Figure 11.1).7
Since The Good Friday Agreement, which brought relative peace, there
is officially, a post conflict, Northern Ireland.8 Murals, though, are still easily
political strategy. Numerous murals and political slogans appeared across nationalist Belfast;
curbstones and lamp-posts were painted; streets were renamed in Irish; and the tricolour
flag flew freely to assert a permanent and visible, political and cultural dominance over the
area [Neil Jarman, “Painting Landscapes: The Place of Murals in the Symbolic Construction
of Urban Space,” in Symbols in Northern Ireland, ed. Anthony D. Buckley (Belfast: Institute of
Irish Studies, Queen’s University of Belfast, 1998), 4].
7 Anthony Buckley, Symbols in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s Uni-
versity of Belfast, 1998), 158.
8 Despite The Troubles having ended, ‘The New ira’ still operate, detonating a car bomb in
March 2016. ‘Prison officer injured in New ira car bomb attack in Belfast dies’. www.theguard-
ian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/15/belfast-prison-officer-dies-targeted-new-ira-car-bomb-attack-
adrian-ismay. 15.3.2016. Accessed 30.3.2016.
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212 Callaghan
f igure 11.2 The mural known as ‘The Memorial to Women Volunteers and Victims of the
Occupation’. Ballymurphy, Belfast. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
assigned to different communities, be it through religious emblems and stri-
dent declarations of pride in their respective culture, or in some cases, contin-
ued animosity and belligerence toward historic and, in other instances, endur-
ing adversaries. Large social housing estates across Belfast and Derry remain
punctuated with murals in many forms –from portraits of Republicans who
died of hunger strike in 1981, to declarations of allegiance to the British Crown
in Loyalist, Unionist districts.9 In Republican Belfast, murals include the ‘Me-
morial to Women Volunteers and Victims of the Occupation’ (Figure 11.2),
whilst in Loyalist parts of the city one can expect to see murals dedicated to
those who fought for one of their paramilitary organisations.10
9 Murals are, of course, akin to a form of propaganda in themselves. This is how they have
been used for political purposes in other countries such as Guatemala, Mexico, Spain,
Cuba and Russia. In Northern Ireland, they are a community’s declaration to itself and
proclamation to others entering the area [Oona Woods, Seeing is Believing: Murals in Der-
ry (Londonderry: Guildhall Press, 1995), 16–18].
10 One might assume that memorials are unlikely to solicit the same ‘sacredness’ experi-
enced at the physical grave or physical vernacular memorial site, but the maintenance of
them –often repainted every six months –evidences their status as almost consecrated
walls of remembrance.
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Painting over the Past 213
Urban areas include dedications to those who suffered under British rule,
and, conversely, those killed by the Irish Republican Army, the ira. These
streets are, as Maria Turmakin coins the term, ‘traumascapes’, places across the
world marked by traumatic legacies of violence, suffering and loss in which the
‘past is never quite over’.11
Beyond the binary of identifying the respective community represented by
each mural are many unknowns; a story far less immediate than the image one
sees. It is often undisclosed, for instance, who the painter was, who endorsed
the mural, and to what extent the image remains germane.12 Though their so-
cial power cannot be measured, the importance of the mural is evidenced by
their sheer number, their strategic positioning (often lining the main arteries
that link respective areas to the city centre), the way in which murals often
change to reflect the political climate.
3 The Good Friday Agreement and Post-Conflict Northern Ireland
The Good Friday Agreement (officially, The Belfast Agreement) is a bilateral
treaty, which became effective on 2 December 1999, though agreed on 10 April
1998. It is a multi-party agreement by most of Northern Ireland’s political par-
ties, and an international agreement between Great Britain and the Republic
of Ireland. The agreement sets out the status of Northern Ireland within the
United Kingdom, stating that Northern Ireland can only become part of the
Republic of Ireland if a consensus is met in Northern Ireland and the Republic
of Ireland. The agreement committed all parties to peaceful means of solving
political differences.13
Among several considerable inclusions in the Agreement, the creation of
a Northern Ireland Assembly established power-sharing between previously
11 Maria Turmakin. Traumascapes (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005), 9.
12 Although they have become an internationally recognised signifier of Belfast and Derry,
it is not true to say that these paintings are loved by all those who live locally. In fact
murals attract opposition from two quarters: from within and from without. The opposi-
tion from without has been well documented: murals have often become prominent tar-
gets for destruction from paint bombs and graffiti. The defacing of Republican paintings
has, on occasion, been carried out by members of the security forces (Rolston 1991), and
paintings in both communities which express support for paramilitaries have been the
target of graffiti from the other side [Neil Jarman. “Commemorating 1916, Celebrating
Difference: Parading and Painting in Belfast” in The Art of Forgetting, Ed. Adrian Forty,
Adrian. (London: Berg, 1999), 18–27].
13 Paul Bew. The Making and Re-Making of the Good Friday Agreement (Dublin: The Liffey
Press, 2007), 16–18.
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214 Callaghan
un-cooperative political parties representing disparate communities.14 The
Agreement also granted all citizens the right to identify themselves as Irish or
British, which meant that Republicans would no longer face punitive measures
for flying the Irish tricolour or for including Irish symbols in their murals.15 For
the Agreement to have credibility as a peace initiative, it had to include the
pledge that paramilitaries would de-commission their arsenals. This vital part
of the accord took far longer than hoped for, though stockpiles of weapons
were close to being fully de-commissioned by 2009.16 The most contentious
part of the new contract was the early release of all prisoners convicted of
terrorist offences.17 Those sentenced to more than five years would serve one
third of their term, and prisoners given life sentences would now serve terms
comparable to someone not sentenced for terrorist-related crimes, and minus
one third of that time.18
The Good Friday Agreement was ratified after 71.1% of Northern Ireland’s
electorate voted in favour of the proposals, and 94% declaring their support in
a simultaneous referendum conducted in the Republic of Ireland. Though the
outcome was one that ostensibly endorsed the Agreement with a clear major-
ity, it is significant that 53% of the Loyalist, Unionist electorate voted in sup-
port of the Agreement, which therefore expressed a less decisive approval in
14 Dermot Keogh. Northern Ireland and the Politics of Reconciliation (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994), 18.
15 The Irish tricolour was banned in Northern Ireland, until that ban was officially over-
turned in the late 1980s. However, the ban was usually ignored by Nationalists, who used
the Irish flag anyway. Though fines were sometimes issued, the ruc tended to ignore the
ban because when enforced it would often lead to rioting. Of more danger was the threat
from Loyalists. In 1980, a 16-year-old was shot dead while painting Republican slogans
on a wall [Neil Jarman, Material Conflicts: Parades and Visual Displays in Northern Ireland
(Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1997), 232].
16 The ira began to de-commission in October 2001, formally ending its campaign in 2005.
By 2009, nearly all Loyalist paramilitaries had completed their de-commissioning, apart
from the uda (Ulster Defence Force), which had only just begun to permit the confis-
cation of its stockpiles [Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000
(London: Profile Books, 2005), 162.
17 The release of prisoners convicted of terrorist offences began in September 1998. By
2000, 428 terrorists, including 143 serving life sentences, had been released. Those
released early included one of the most notorious Republican prisoners, Patrick Magee,
responsible for the 1984 ‘Brighton bomb’, the attempted assassination of British Prime-
minister Margaret Thatcher. On the Loyalist side, infamous prisoners released early
included Jonny Adair, sentenced to 16 years [Kieran McEvoy, Paramilitary Imprisonment
in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 133].
18 Peter Taylor. Brits: The War Against the IRA (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2002), 158.
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that community.19 Opposition to the Good Friday Agreement within Unionism
was focused primarily on the perceived ‘appeasement’ of Irish republicanism
by the British Government in allowing ‘ira terrorists’ into the new devolved
assembly and executive.20 Nonetheless, the settlement was supported with a
clear majority thus recognising the legitimacy of both Loyalist, Unionist aspi-
rations and those of Republican, Nationalists, too.21
4 The Cease-Fire Period
In August 1994 the ira formally declared a ‘complete cessation of military oper-
ations’. The announcement followed eighteen months of secret talks between
the British Government and Republicans. Two months later Loyalist paramili-
taries urged to follow suit also broadcast their intention to suspend hostilities.
These breakthroughs would eventually lead to the Good Friday Agreement.22
As images murals are always open to multiple interpretations, but as arte-
facts in public space they are also open to multiple forms of use, re-use and
abuse. As images they always have had a functionality: as propaganda, as rheto-
ric, as ideological and symbolic markers. But as artefacts their use is potentially
more varied. While on one level it is primarily the image that is being used and
transformed, on another level it is the physical artefact, fixed in space, which
is the subject of activity; taken still further it is the public space in which the
19 Cillian McGrattan. Northern Ireland 1968–2008: The Politics of Entrenchment (London
and New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010), 165.
20 One of the most controversial appointments, former ira member Martin McGuinness
became Deputy First Minister in 2007.
21 This has since led to the perception of relative peace, but this must be tested against an
increase in the building of ‘peace walls’ that separate Loyalist and Republican communi-
ties and also the recent controversy over the flying of the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall,
now restricted to four days per year, which further demonstrates the enduring sensitivity
of such symbols also prevalent in the murals. As Charles Purdick described the period,
with the conflict so recent and no concrete political progress for several years, the period
was more ‘an end to a war but not quite peace’ [Michael Cox. A Farewell to Arms? Beyond
the Good Friday Agreement (London and Dublin: Liang, 2007), 18].
22 The ira ceasefire ended on 9 February 1996 when it planted a huge bomb in London’s
Docklands. It killed two, injured more than 100 and caused more than £85m of dam-
age. A new ceasefire was finally announced in July 1997. The future of the ira’s weap-
onry was one of the dominant and unresolved issues of the peace process. Republicans
argued that the arms could only be dealt with as part of a solution leading to “all the
guns being removed from Irish politics” –giving equal weight to ira weapons and the
presence of the British military [Richard English, Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA
(London: pan, 2012), 94].
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artefact is sited that is changed.23 As artefacts all murals are site-specific; their
power as political statements and as symbols is enhanced by their location.
Their significance of the murals is generated by a semiotic dynamic which
involves the images taking meaning from their location and the location in
turn having a differing significance because of the paintings. In the following
examples, relating to the cease-fire period, one can understand why muralists
and their patrons chose specific locations and their corresponding images that
relate to the change in the political climate.
For painters the site is always of importance; if permission is given to paint a
wall –usually granted by paramilitaries –then all is well and good, but without
acquiescence then prime sites were, and still are today, claimed and painted.
A site on Newtownards Road, east Belfast, exemplifies this with its location in
a major thoroughfare in a predominately Loyalist, Unionist area of the city,
significantly close to the only Republican, Nationalist neighbourhood of this
area. It has, then, been an ideal location for Loyalist paramilitary groups to
assert their presence –a situation found in other parts of Belfast where Re-
publican, Nationalist murals line neutral streets in areas with a preponderance
of Republicans. During the cease-fire period of the mid-90s, murals in such
non-aligned streets were either re-painted, enlarged, or created anew in order
to show the continued presence of paramilitaries.24 In other words, despite
the cease-fire, both Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries were determined
to remind public and media alike, not only that they continued to exist and
would take up arms again, but also that their dominance of locations would be
expressed in neutral thoroughfares.
The pertinence of location is also demonstrated in areas vehemently par-
tisan whilst also visible to public, media and politicians who would not en-
croach into these areas of Belfast. A case in point during the cease-fire period
is the Mount Vernon district of north Belfast and the painting of the ‘Prepared
for Peace, Ready for War’ mural, which depicts two masked men brandishing
machine guns. Whilst the message of this Loyalist mural is axiomatic –para-
militaries had agreed to a cease-fire but the prospect of decommissioning was
fanciful –its location meant it was more than an internal discourse and a top-
ical declaration for the residents of Mount Vernon. Painting this mural on the
largest available wall in the district was part of the political mural paradigm.
Its location –an elevated position facing the often congested M2 motorway,
23 Neil Jarman, 9. Material Conflicts: Parades and Visual Displays in Northern Ireland
(Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1997). 9.
24 Graham Dawson, Making Peace with the Past: Memory, Trauma, and the Irish Troubles
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), 166.
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however, pointed to an audience other than those living in Mount Vernon.
Those who commissioned and painted the mural showed a clear interest in
taking their message far beyond the boundaries of the Mount Vernon district.
In turn, by association, Mount Vernon itself pledged a commitment to a cessa-
tion of hostilities with a warning that this might only be a hiatus in their armed
fight against the ira.
Paradoxically, even after Loyalist paramilitary groups declared a ceasefire in
October 1994, the paramilitary iconography held centre stage, with their slogan
‘no surrender’ becoming more prevalent. According to Bill Rolston, this was
designed as a message not only to the opposing community, but also to Un-
ionist politicians, warning them not to move too far beyond the paramilitary
groups from which they emerged and not to give away too much in negotia-
tions.25 Yet the message conveyed by murals was typically diverse. In Derry (of-
ficially known as Londonderry to the Loyalist, Unionist community), a mural
devoid of images and consisting of the words ‘Londonderry West Bank Loyal-
ists. Still Under Siege. No Surrender’ (Figure 11.3) appeared at a location that
signaled to a new role for the Northern Irish political mural.26 Facing the cele-
brated seventeenth-century Derry Walls that encircle the old town, the mural
succeeded in attracting media attention whilst informing the city’s tourists of
Loyalist feelings at this time. As such, this rather uncomplicated mural used
the city’s most famous landmark to gain awareness of Loyalist stoicism and
thus to draw a clear distinction between the ceasefire and the notion of sub-
mission. But the re-appropriation of this space with one of the least aestheti-
cally accomplished of murals has a complex, historic meaning. It refers to the
famous ‘Siege of Derry’ of 1689, when, for three months, Irish protestants re-
fused to surrender to Catholic King James ii’s forces, using the city walls to de-
fend themselves from attack.27 By painting this mural in this location, directly
opposite the city’s famous walls, Loyalists re-appropriated not only part of the
25 Bill Rolston, The War of the Walls (Dublin: Beyond the Pale Publications, 1998). 4.
26 This, like many murals, has been re-painted several times, with different font styles, but
always the same wording.
27 James ii was ousted from power in England and Scotland in 1688 by Protestant William
iii (of Orange), known to Loyalist, Unionists as ‘King Billy’, and his wife Mary ii.
Subsequently, Catholic James ii looked to mostly Catholic Ireland to muster support to
regain his kingdom. Taking control of Derry was central to his plans. 8,000 of the city’s
30,000 protestants died, many due to warfare, whilst thousands died from disease and
starvation, as James ii’s forces blocked all supplied to the city. The blockade was breached
after 105 days of the siege and the Protestant defenders claimed victory. The following
year James ii was defeated at ‘The Battle of The Boyne’ [John Graham, A History of the
Siege of Londonderry (Birmingham: Nabu Press, 2005), 124].
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f igure 11.3 The Loyalist West Bank mural, as seen from the Derry Walls. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
historic space but also the origins of the city’s Protestant resistance, drawing
comparisons between the most renowned example of their defiance (which
ultimately led to victory) and their contemporary situation. Despite its lack of
imagery and apparent complexity, the Derry mural is more ambiguous than
the aforementioned ‘Prepared for Peace, Ready for War’ mural in Belfast. In-
stead, the Derry mural suggests victimisation rather than a community primed
for a return to belligerence. It speaks of indomitability rather than cease-fire.
During the cease-fire period, Republican, Nationalist murals maintained
their show of weapons but began to make significant changes that, unlike
many Loyalist murals, did not make immediate statements about the on-going
truce. Typical of this time, the mural on Beechmount Avenue situated at the
heart of Republican west Belfast uses like the majority of murals a space visi-
ble to all who travel through a main thoroughfare, in this case, anyone moving
south along the Falls Road (Figure 11.4).
Like the Loyalist murals created during this time, this Republican murals
does not make a direct statement about the cease-fire and instead features the
derivation of their armed struggle, in this case against the British. It depicts
a scene of the 1916 ‘Easter Rising’ when the Irish Republic was proclaimed
and Dublin’s General Post Office (the neo-classical building in the mural’s
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f igure 11.4 The Loyalist West Bank mural, as seen from the Derry Walls. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
backdrop) was seized by Irish combatants.28 The commemorated event thus
provides the historical legitimacy, and indeed the ideology, for the contempo-
rary Republican movement, as well as justifying the ira’s continued struggle.
Like other murals, it used the Gaelic language as a title –in this case, simply
The Easter Rising 1916 –furthering the Irish identity of this Belfast region, thus,
with the context of the cease-fire in mind, asserting their intention to be part
of a united Ireland despite the armistice.29 Equally, in relation to the cease-fire
period, comes the mural’s lack of a contemporary figure, be it ‘the terrorist’
or ‘the solider hero’, as it depicts a generic fighter from the past, and a proud,
contradictorily non-aggressive one at that. This complies with the willingness
of the ira to participate in a cease-fire whilst reminding all who see the mural
that weaponry and the martyrdom of volunteers are the foundations of the
Republican cause.
28 The Easter Rising, an armed insurrection launched by Irish republicans against British
rule, was led by poet and schoolmaster Patrrick Pearse, and by James Connolly at the
head of the Irish Citizen Army. After five days, the British Army suppressed the uprising.
Nearly 500 people died in the Easter Rising. Its leaders, including Pearse and Connolly,
were executed by the British. This British reaction caused much sympathy for the rebels
among Irish citizens.
29 Nearly all streets in Republican Belfast have dual English and Gaelic titles.
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5 Re-Imaging Communities
The way in which murals often change to reflect the political climate also
shows through more official means, coming by way of the Re-Imaging Com-
munities scheme, which has, so far, replaced eighty-four aggressive murals
with less confrontational ones. A positive initiative, it has though raised issues
concerning the replacement of paintings, regarded by some as part of North-
ern Ireland’s history and identity, and also the collective and individual trau-
ma of the past. Ironically, the Re-Imaging Scheme has revealed similar views
in otherwise polarised communities –with a process meticulous in gaining
approval from residents for the replacement of murals, but also, in some cas-
es, exposing less formal objections, including the satirical epithet given to the
scheme: the ‘whitewash campaign’.30 Opposition is sometimes discordant,
with one Republican muralist famously stating that replacing murals is ‘akin to
Bulldozing Auschwitz’.31 Here I endeavour to look behind such comments and
consider the case for maintaining hostile images, and in tandem, highlighting
the argument for the Re-Imaging programme’s continuation.
The scheme commenced in 2006, and through consultation with local
residents, has replaced sixty-one murals in Loyalist, Unionist districts, and
twenty-three in Republican, Nationalist areas.32 This ratio of nearly 3:1 is best
explained by the aforementioned prevalence of the ‘terrorist’ figure in Loyalist
estates, some of which have been expunged as part of the scheme. Both com-
munities have expressed an interest in changing the appearance of their re-
spective neighbourhoods. Indeed, as a Director of the initiative argues, one of
the main strengths of the programme lies in the empowering of communities
vis-à-vis decisions about their own shared common spaces –that is, to decide
if they wished to live with the history of a very troubled past, or to change the
space occupied by long-standing murals into representations more relevant
and meaningful to their contemporary realities.33
A most significant example is the replacement of the ‘Grim Reaper’ mural
in a Loyalist, Unionist stronghold of Belfast, with an equestrian painting of
William iii, a seventeenth-century monarch, referred to by this community
as ‘King Billy’ (Figure 11.5). A skeletal, masked, and clearly armed figure, has
been substituted with a regal presence –a sign of cultural origins instead of an
30 www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ n ews/ i s- i t- t ime- t o- w hitewash- n orthernirelands-
paramilitary-murals-28530284.html. Accessed 9.1.2016.
31 Ibid.
32 interview with Noirin McKinney, Director of Arts Development, 16 Feb. 2016.
33 Ibid.
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f igure 11.5 A ‘King Billy’ mural, Sandy Row, central Belfast. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
axiomatic warning of death to enemies of this sect. Of further significance is
the change from a seemingly contemporary character to one from an entire-
ly different era. A machine gun has been replaced by a weapon of a bygone
era –a sword. Whilst this contrast results in a far less intimidating street, it
is still, arguably provocative, as ‘King Billy’ was the Protestant King who de-
feated the Catholic King James ii in 1690, a victory that consolidated British
rule over the whole of Ireland, and as a result, is a portrait often viewed as an
affront to the Republican, Nationalist community. Even the ostensibly apoliti-
cal Titanic –of which there are six extant murals –is not without its potential
to be odious. Built in Belfast, the Titanic is promoted as a symbol of Northern
Irish craftsmanship, but with many craftsmen of Catholic heritage, the knowl-
edge of many forbears’ exclusion from the famous project causes its percep-
tion as a symbol of the socioeconomic deprivation lived through during the
twentieth century.34
So despite the constructive aims and achievements of the Re-Imaging
Scheme, no guarantee exists that new murals will show pictures of trust and
34 Charles River Editors, Building the RMS Titanic: The Construction of the World’s Most
Famous Ship (London: Create Space Publishing, 2014), 119.
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shared understanding. Whilst paramilitary culture is unwelcome to those who
petitioned the erasure of the ‘Grim Reaper’, one cannot possibly ascertain
whether murals dating back to the 1970s and 1980s reflect community con-
sensus more than the new, less belligerent ones. Not everyone is prepared to
formally speak in favour of maintaining the old murals, usually concerned that
such opinions could be misunderstood as wishing for a return to violence and
support for the paramilitaries.35
Painting over the scars of the Troubles is not accepted by all. Some mural-
ists object to the Re-Imaging programme on the grounds that it signals the
beginning of the end for the political mural. This concern has some validity if
one considers the scheme’s interest in replacing the so-called family murals,
which depict paramilitary ‘volunteers’ and their families, painted memorials
with visible, not hooded faces of combatants. Whilst the Re-Imaging scheme
would only replace such murals with approval from residents, the long-term
intent appears to cause some unease. The so-called family murals, in memory
of particular individuals who died in the troubles, however remain a sensitive
issue, with a spokesperson for the Re-Imaging scheme saying, ‘We won’t be
able to replace those for a number of years’, which expressed a long-term in-
terest in doing so.36
Additionally, just as the Re-Imaging programme dealt with painting over
images of men in balaclavas, new murals depicting near-identical terrorists
were being created. One such example, the 2011 militant Loyalist mural in
East Belfast revealed how sectarian issues are still at the forefront of the city’s
consciousness and how some still struggle to come to terms with the peace
process. This mural prompts the question of whether it is a closer reflection
of today’s climate than the Re-Imaging productions –or at least as relevant?
Do the less menacing replacements convey the reality of a supposedly post-
conflict country? Are the replacements, as some fear, sanitised representations
of today’s Northern Ireland? Furthermore, given the long history of violence
between these communities, one has to wonder whether newly painted, more
passive murals, connect to one of their original functions as territorial markers
that caused people to feel protected rather than fearful.37
35 Interview with William Kelly, one of the Bogside artists.
36 ‘Whitewashing Northern Ireland’s Notorious Murals’ 22.7.2010. http://observers.france24
.com/en/20100722-whitewashing-northern-ireland-notorious-murals-troubles-belfast-
derry. Accessed 14.2.2016.
37 Graham Dawson, Making Peace with the Past: Memory, Trauma, and the Irish Troubles
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), 114.
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As an outsider, I also raise queries concerning the consequences of paint-
ing over the past. The sectarian, aggressive murals, could, for instance, act as a
visible reminder of how relative peace in Northern Ireland could easily switch
back to a time of reprisal killings. As part of this, one should remember that
some victims do not wish for peace and remain embittered by a perceived lack
of justice. During the Troubles, the bereaved would sometimes wish for par-
amilitaries to take action, openly expressing their hope that terrorists would
alleviate their suffering through revenge. Whilst some victims find relief by
talking of their bitter feelings, others do not cope with their past in this way
and instead articulate concerns about state-organised forgetting, evidence of
which found in the changes to murals. Graham Dawson’s Making Peace with the
Past, cites among many others a victim who proclaims that she ‘hates peace’, a
mark of her continued animosity and her refusal to forgive.38
Conversely, since violent imagery can evidently cause violent behaviour,
and in other examples, induce trauma, we might reflect on whether some
murals serve to influence continued hatred between communities. One can
argue that such a martial environment will perpetuate what so many of the
murals depict. There also exist reminders of a three-decade period that many
would prefer to forget, which might explain the endorsement of less provoca-
tive murals, and more recently, proposals that only hint at past conflict, such
as a mural which shows two children shaking hands, each representing one of
the two communities. As Cathy Caruth writes of the comforting ‘cure’ of main-
stream melodramas, such works posit trauma against its reality as a discrete
past event, locatable, representable and curable, a symptom of a culture’s need
to ‘forget’ traumatic events while representing them in oblique form.39 As Bill
Rolston warns with regard to the Re-Imaging scheme, politics is potentially
lost, because even the most offensive murals are undeniably political: ‘A politi-
cal position is being stated on the wall. But now there is a fear of politics, a fear
of mentioning the Troubles’.40 In this respect, the replacement murals point to
a form of censorship, even self-censorship.
The notion that art can reflect reality is no longer limited to the field of
academic criticism. Media portrayals of the conflict in Northern Ireland have
consistently used murals as indicators of the political climate at a given time.
Murals are an art form as well as a public expression of feeling and identity,
38 Ibid. 136.
39 Cathy Caruth, Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History (London and
New York: John Hopkins University Press, 1993), 6.
40 Bill Rolston, Politics and Painting: Murals and Conflict in Northern Ireland (Cranbury, New
Jersey, and London: Associated Universities Press, 1991), 76.
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more dynamic than political commentary and, to a larger extent, freer from
the constraints of censorship and control.41 What is at risk is a reduction, or
even loss, of the mural’s multitude of expressions, and its indicator of the po-
litical climate. Conversely, the replacement of sectarian murals, though caused
by a new form of control –an official government-sponsored programme, as
opposed to commissions by paramilitaries –could indeed reflect a need to
move away from visual reminders of hostilities.
Some, however, suspect that the logical outcome, if not the intention, of
the state-down intervention is to remove the politics from the mural tradition
to provide pleasant pictures which, even if artistically sound, say little of the
identity and beliefs of the communities in which they appear.42 One of the
world’s leading art experts, Martin Kemp, echoes their concerns by question-
ing the murals’ destruction. Kemp argues that the murals represent some of
the most important public images of our time and need preserving.43 They are,
I would argue, cultural relics, whereby the suffering and the response to it be-
long to the historical record. This includes both the need to paint over the past
and also those who feel the need to paint new images depicting ‘the terrorist’.
But we should remember that mark change; beneath nearly every mural lies at
least one other, different image.
6 Changes to Murals, Independent of the Re-Imaging Scheme
Prior to the Re-Imaging Communities Scheme, changes to murals included the
modification concerning depictions of firearms. What became observable was
an unofficial ‘re-imaging’ that at least represented the interests of paramili-
taries who wished to portray a more benign image connected to the chang-
ing political climate. Of the murals painted during and soon after the Good
Friday Agreement, the most significant change from a Republican, Nationalist
perspective was the apparent decision not to paint new murals that included
guns, unless, as previously discussed, the mural referred to the origins of their
cause. The removal of masked visages replaced by generic or actual faces of
combatants was a simultaneous development toward the end of the century.
41 Oona Woods, Seeing is Believing: Murals in Derry (Londonderry: Guildhall Press, 1995), 69.
42 Bill Rolston, Politics and Painting: Murals and Conflict in Northern Ireland (Cranbury, New
Jersey, and London: Associated Universities Press, 1991), 84.
43 Rob Sharp. ‘Fading Fast, the murals that illustrate the story of the troubles’. 5.8. 2011.
http://www.independent.co.uk/ n ews/ u k/ h ome- news/fading-fast-the-murals-that-
illustrate-story-of-the-troubles-2332678.html. Accessed 19.4.2016.
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No announcement was made by the known muralists, or even by represent-
atives of Belfast’s Republican, Nationalist communities, but the move away
from intimidating paramilitary imagery had begun. New murals began to fo-
cus on what Bill Rolston calls the ‘cultural base of nationalism’, which means
that Republican, Nationalist murals became spare of hooded combatants and
instead depicted scenes from Irish history or dedicated more space for those
who had died during The Troubles, thus creating further murals classifiable as
memorials.44
In Republican, Nationalist Belfast, the ‘soldier hero’ took precedence over
the ‘terrorist’. This seemed to reflect a feeling of confidence amongst those who
commissioned and painted murals that the future for this community would
no longer be founded on violence and antipathy toward the British, that Re-
publicanism could now be represented by the historic roots of the cause and
those who sacrificed themselves rather than an enduring hostility and appar-
ent pride in the threat posed by the ira. The changes appeared to correspond
with the political settlement, which would grant Republican, Nationalists po-
litical, legal and cultural influence of a status hitherto unrecognised and argu-
ably quixotic. More cynically, with murals intrinsically linked to propaganda,
the self-determined re-appraisal of images was arguably designed to convey a
new self-image, particularly in locations where few, if any, visitors would go.
Nowhere is the re-appraisal more evidenced than in the Ballymurphy es-
tate in west Belfast, an urban landscape that epitomises the ira’s motivation
for reprisal killings, the demographics of its membership, and all victims of
The Troubles. Seen as the ‘cockpit of nationalist resistance’ throughout The
Troubles, Ballymurphy has been the location for riots (the most notable being
a clash between Loyalists in 1970, which subsequently led to fighting between
residents and British soldiers); open gun-fire between Loyalists and Republi-
cans, and the Loyalist bombing of Kelly’s Bar, which injured sixty-three Bally-
murphy residents. Ballymurphy has been the location for the deaths of twenty-
nine ira volunteers (the majority were killed by the British Army, some by the
ruc, whilst six died as a result of premature explosions when making bombs);
the deaths of eighty-five residents (Loyalist paramilitaries are believed respon-
sible for more than a third of these killings, with the British Army accountable
for at least twenty-one deaths, including, in 1971, the shooting dead of 11 civil-
ians known as the ‘Ballymurphy Massacre’).45 And, during The Troubles, this
44 Bill Rolston, Drawing Support: Murals in the North of Ireland (Dublin: Beyond the Pale
Publications, 1992), 145.
45 Of several riots, the most notable was a clash between Loyalists in 1970, which subse-
quently led to fighting between residents and British soldiers.
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one district of Belfast witnessed the deaths of twenty-six British soldiers, all
killed by the ira.46
One of the dead, ira volunteer Tommy Tolan, painted a mural that shows
the evolution of Republican, Nationalist imagery since the Good Friday Agree-
ment. Tolan, a popular resident of Ballymurphy, was shot dead in 1977. The first
mural to feature him was known as ‘The Safe House Mural’, which depicted
a smiling Tolan before a background of three accompanying volunteers and
their mothers willing to house them. Painted four years after the signing of
the Good Friday Agreement, this Republican mural was in keeping with the
changing representation of Republicanism with non-hooded or unmenacing
Republican combatants that began during the cease-fire period (two of the
other depicted volunteers even smiled). Yet it still presented an image of con-
temporary warfare. Tolan was shown holding an automatic rifle, he wore black
leather gloves (one symbol of ira membership) and behind him, on a table,
were rifles and boxes of ammunition. Given the year this mural was painted,
2001, the combination of depicting heroicised volunteers who died in the
1970s, whilst still presenting a show of weaponry can read as relating to the
then de-commissioning process, which the ira had agreed to follow but would
not complete for a further four years. Due to the Good Friday Agreement, this
district of Belfast had become prone to curious tourists and journalists who
felt safe to venture into streets previously no-go zones. It is plausible, then,
that the mural was painted with a wider, new spectator in mind, which might
explain the paradox of the mural’s happy-faced armed men.
The contrast between the original mural and that which replaced it in 2003 –
during the de-commissioning process, which would last for a further eighteen
months –was unmistakable. Whilst the re-painted mural was nearly identical,
the figure of Tolan now stood without a rifle and wore a three-piece suit rather
than combat attire. The mural itself was in the process of de-commissioning;
they were altering the history; Tolan, not even the ‘solider hero’ anymore, was
now a presentable, friendly former resident of Ballymurphy who died during
The Troubles. Those unfamiliar to the estate might wonder what role he played
in the Troubles. Was he one of the civilian victims?
In 2014 the mural was re-designed (Figure 11.6), with all weaponry and even
the reference to ‘volunteers’ removed, leaving the Irish tricolour as the only ref-
erence to Republicanism. The ‘soldier hero’ had now completed a transforma-
tion into a class hero, as the mural is known as ‘The Working Class Heroes’. Sev-
eral residents of Ballymurphy join the ‘soldier hero’, including those pictured
46 Ciaran de Baroid, Ballymurphy and the Irish War (London: Pluto Press, 2000), 390–394.
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f igure 11.6 The new ‘Safe House Mural’, Ballymurphy, Belfast. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
in circular frames denoting the deceased. Whilst the residents of the estate
would no doubt apperceive the violent history behind some of those pictured
here, the mural brings about a striking change in the self-image of the rep-
resented, undeniably positive and overtly peaceful whilst also omitting their
specific role as ira members during The Troubles. Deep into the Ballymurphy
estate, the location of the mural acquires significance for not being part of
the tourist routes that opened five years after the signing of the Good Friday
Agreement. To the inquisitive who endeavor to investigate these urban areas,
the mural would, in effect, significantly reduce Ballymurphy’s significance to
the Republican armed struggle. Its location, however, relates the murals to an
internal discourse that represents the end of The Troubles and a desire, at least
by the sponsors of this painting, to reframe the conflict as one relating to social
and economic status. Pride is still visible but it expresses respect for the com-
munity and its non-referenced history rather than a tribute to its violent past.
In contrast, murals in Loyalist, Unionists streets communicated very differ-
ent feelings. Sinister, threatening murals were maintained and new confron-
tational ones appeared, reflecting an apparent insecurity due to the increas-
ing voice of Sinn Féin –the political wing of the ira. One cannot ascertain
if these changes directly responded to Northern Ireland’s new constitutional
status, but surveys evidence that the Loyalist, Unionist community believed
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that Republican Nationalists had benefited from the Good Friday Agreement
much more than they had.47
Criticism of the Good Friday Agreement was also expressed in a mural that
included no military emblems but rather the words: ‘Nothing about us without
us is for us. …’. This collage, featuring a selection of residents from the Loyal-
ist, Unionist community is unusual in Loyalist murals for its more developed
aesthetic that still conveys a clear message to all who see it –that they must be
consulted as part of Northern Ireland’s future, that politicians should heed this
warning when they make concessions.
7 The Bogside Artists
As the programme developed, the Re-Imaging Scheme approached a trio of
muralists in Derry, known as the Bogside Artists, though the group did not
wish to participate in the programme, as they argued it was burying the past.48
The Bogside Artists are responsible for more than a dozen murals, including
one of the most famous murals in the world, The Petrol Bomber, painted in
1994. The mural uses a photograph of an event from 1969, known as the Battle
of the Bogside (Figure 11.7). The mural, a photorealist presentation of a young
boy in a gas mask, thus adds to the range of mural paintings, moving from the
previously cited, arguably crude renderings, to this more accomplished work
that makes permanent a scene from a real event. Although the mural depicts
an act of violence, the boy is defending himself from CS gas, used by the ruc,
the Northern Irish police. The masked face ascribes a much more complex sig-
nificance to the image, as its anonymity suggests the child functions as a stand-
in for any child as well as for Ireland, as signified by the badge on his shirt. As
such the boy represents every Irish citizen and, in turn, Ireland as a whole.
Though previous examples might cause one to oscillate between the issues,
the prospect of replacing this mural is less complicated. As one of its paint-
ers argues, this purely historical and commemorative work strives to enhance
own understanding and experience. Its focus on the individual signals to the
importance of every single person, regardless of their role in the Troubles, or
47 Answering the question “Nationalists benefitted a lot more than Unionists after the
Good Friday Agreement”. It shows that, in 1998 “Nationalists Benefits A Lot More Than
Unionists After GF Agreement” was 19% v 1% re: same question re: Unionists; and it
rises, year on year, going to 28% v. 1% in 2000; and 33% in 2002; and 34 % v 2% in 2004.
www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2002/Political_Attitudes. Accessed 19.7. 2016.
48 Interview with William Kelly, one of the Bogside artists. 17.1.2016.
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f igure 11.7 The Petrol Bomber mural, Bogside, Derry. March, 2016.
image courtesy of mark callaghan.
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any conflict.49 This mural, unlike others mentioned before, does not trans-
form horrors into clichés with a limited range of symbolism. It causes one to
wonder whether paramilitary murals would lose their impact, not by being
painted over, but by being juxtaposed to more inventive, meaningful exam-
ples, such as The Petrol Bomber –a mural that does not expurgate the past, nor
celebrate it.
Though the Bogside murals are, it would seem, ironically permanent, the
Re-Imaging Scheme continues to support the replacement of murals, should
a consensus be established, thus promulgating significant changes in the post-
Troubles landscape of Northern Ireland. Whether one fully endorses the initia-
tive or not, the programme has made the political mural increasingly complex,
prompting new questions about an often one-dimensional art-form. The Re-
Imaging Scheme leads one to re-appraise the purpose of the political mural, be
it the consequences of leaving them untouched, or the effects and principles
of painting over the past. As narratives change, these aide-memoire relate to
multiple issues concerning power relations in communities, vicarious mem-
ory, generational disagreements, the role of the mural in terms of political,
popular and collective memory, and perhaps the social truth of irreconcilable
differences still represented on hundreds of walls despite the apparent success
of the Good Friday agreement. The legitimate concerns outlined in this pa-
per –be it the sanitisation of history, the question of whether murals convey
the on-going reality of a post-Troubles society or the need to move away from
the conflict by removing images of it –illustrate the subjective dimensions
of conflict transformation in post-conflict Northern Ireland. The mural has a
multiple role, including to celebrate, to complain, and to convince, but also
to express aspirations and fears. Usually the topicality of murals reflects the
period they address. In this respect, the Re-Imaging scheme has caused ambiv-
alence where there used to be clarity.
8 Dialogue with other Work in the Volume
Leanne Dodd’s chapter, ‘Transcending Genre: Narrative Strategies for Creat-
ing Literary Crime Fiction as a Subset of Trauma Literature’, highlights Cathy
Caruth’s point concerning the representation of trauma, as outlined in my
chapter. Caruth writes of the comforting ‘cure’ that mainstream depictions at-
tempt to deliver, which posit trauma as a discrete past event, representable and
49 Ibid.
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